Evaporative iceless refrigerator



C. C. SWARTWOQD EVAPORATLVE ICELESS REERIGERATOR.

, APPLICATION FILED lULYZfir 1921. 1,427,981 PatentedSept. 5, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l- C. C. SWARTWOOD. EVAPORATIVE ICELESS REFRIGERATOR.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 28. 192].

Patented Sept. 5, 1922,

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

' To all w from it may concern Patented Sept. 5, 1922.

v U -wen sr r s PATENT OFFICE CHARLES c. swencrwoon oncENrnA IA,WASHINGTON.

nvaronATIvE IcELnss REFRIGERATOR.

Application filed July as,

' Be it known that LCHARLns C SWART- WQOD, a citizen ofthe UnitedStates, residing at Centralia, in the county of Lewls and 'State ofWashin'gton, have invented certain new and usefulimprovementsin.Evaporative'Iceless Refrigerators, of'which the following is a specification, referencebeing had in maintaining the'foodreceiving compartments thereof at a low temperature:

It is a further ob ect of the invention to provide a refrigerator er thecharacter above outlined adapted'to "serve asa water cooler or adaptedto serve as a combined water cooler and food refrigerator) Furtherobjects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in-thedetailed dej scription following.

In the accompanying drawings Fig. l is a front elevation of arefrigerator constructed in accordance with the invention . Fig.2 is atransversevertical view thereevaporation of water from the wicks 15'willFig. 3 is a longitudinal section'alviewf therethrough; and

through Fig. tis a horizontalsectional view upon line 44: of Fig. 3. I

Like numerals designate corresponding parts throughout drawings. I I IIn carrying out the inventiornl provide a casing 5 withinwhich a waterreceiving tank 6 is mounted. The front and rear walls, the end walls andthe bottom of the tank 6 are covered by insulating material? andprotect" casing 5, but at the opposite side-the tank 1921. Serial No.488,202.

and its insulating material are spaced from adjacent wall o'f the casing5 to leave an air channel l3,--the lower end of which is open to theatmosphere. A flue 14: adapted =tobe connected to a chimney orotherwise,

as desired; leads from the top of the'casing g5 at that'side of thestructure remote from the channel 13. Thus the induced flow of [air 1supwardly through the channel 13 then laterally across the top of thetank 6 and upwardly through the flue lt. In its travel laterallyacrossthe topfof the tankfi the "air comes in contact with a plurality ofcapillaceous cooling elementsmade of wicks or like capi llaceousmaterial part of which projects into the path of the air and part ofwhich "depends into the water contained within the tank 6. I wish it'tobe understood that the invention is very broad with respect to thenature of the material which may be usec'l'i11 tl1e relation indicated.For the sake I of brev ty l will hereinafter referto wicks "15; Butitls-to be "understood that by this termylintend to. include anycapillaoeous material adapted to conduct water by capillarity from thetankfi into the path of the current of air acrossthe top of said tank.

' The advantageous cooling action upon the waterg'contained within thetank 6 by the readilybe understood, since the broad princonstructionthatI have devised for apply.-

v "ing this principle involves novel features the several figuresof theof very great benefit in the production of an efiicient apparatus. 1 1=1 v Amongthese may be mentioned thefacts that my improved evaporativerefrigerator is very similarin appearance to refrigerators already inuseand is adapted tofit within thespaces ordinarily provided for therecep-' tion of such refrigerators. The complete separation of the tank6 from the wall of the casing 5 by the insulating material 7 preventsany tendency of the refrigerator to sweat. The structure is compact,economical of manufacture and provides a large of the invention.

and

the fact that the food compartments are entirely surrounded by the coldwater in the tank 6. D I

While I have shown the wicks as lying in parallelism and as being ofzigzag formation, it is to be understood that the shape of these wicksmay be varied without departure from the invention because many changesin shape may be made without impairing the eflicient operation of thedevice. The refrigerator shown and described not only serves toefficiently chill the food compartment but the chilling of the water inthe tank 6 renders an ample supply of cold water available for drinkingpurposes and to permit of the ready withdrawal of this waterv for thatpurpose, I have indicated a faucet '17 Instead of using the waterdirectly from the tank, for drinking purposes, the inventioncontemplates the placing of a .coil 17* in said tank and conductingwater to said coil through a supply pipe 17 and from said coil through afaucet 17. Thus the water in the tank is used to cool the water in thecoil but does not comein direct contact therewith. A cover 18 may beprovided in the top of the casing 5, if desired, to permit access to behad to the wicks 15 and to provide for replenishing the water in tank 6.I.

It is .tobe understood that the invention is not limited to the preciseconstruction set forth because changes may be made therein withoutdeparture from the spirit Other arrangements of entrance and eXit of theair may be resorted to so long as the airis caused to travel past thecapillaceous material. Fun thermore, the flow of air may be induced inother ways than by the attachment of y a flue to a chimney, the use offans,*etc., being well known in the art.

While I have shown the invention as embodied in a cabinet, it is to beunderstood that it may be embodied in built-in structures in homes,hotels, apartments, boats, trains, refrigerator cars and the like. Thestructure shown and described is susceptible of use as a cooling mediumfor stills, condensors or any other compartment to be chilled, thecompartments illustrated not bem limited to use for the reception offood. aving described my invention what I "claim is 1. An evaporativerefrigerator of the character comprising a casing, a water tank thereinspaced from the wall of the casing along one side thereof to provide avertical air channel open at the bottom to the atmosphere, a naturaldraft outlet flue at the other side of the 'ca sing,the top 'o f th ewater tank beingspaced from the top of the casing to provide a passageof air which travels upwardly from beneath the casing through thevertical channel entirely across the top of thetank continuously in onedirection and out of said fine and capillaceous elements lying partly inthe water in the "tank and partly above said tank and above the waterlevel and projecting into the path of the current of air. I 2. Astructure as recited in claim 1 where- 'in said cap'illaceous elementsare of "zig-zag formation.

3. An evaporative refrigerator of the character described comprising acasing, a water tank therein spaced from the wall of the casing alongone side thereof and contacting with said casing at the opposite sidethereof to provide a vertical air channel at one "side of "the Watertankonly, an outlet flue at the other side of the casing and at the topthereof,the "top of the water tank being spaced from the top of'thecasing- "to provide a passage for air, said air traveling upward throughthe vertical channel and across the top of the tank and out of said flueand a plurality of elongated capillaceous elements lying partly in thewater in the tank'and partly above said tank and abovethe water leveland projecting into the path of the current of air,said'c'apillaceouselement lying in substantial parallelism with each other and being of alength to extend substantially entirelyacrossthe'top of the tank.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature. 1

CHARLES o. SWARTWOOD.

